Professional Writing Internships

All students majoring in English Writing and Rhetoric are required to do a one-semester internship, either a teaching internship or a professional writing internship.  Students are encouraged to do more than one internship and are allowed to count two internships for credit in the major.  Interns may or may not be paid, depending on the sponsoring organization.

Teaching Internships
Typically, students opt to do a teaching internship if they are seriously considering going to graduate school or if they intend to teach K-12 after graduation.  Most students pursuing a graduate degree in English or writing studies of some kind will work as teaching assistants while pursuing a graduate degree.  The teaching internship is good preparation for this work and often looks good to potential graduate programs.

Professional Writing Internships
Many other students will benefit from a professional writing internship which involves working for a non-profit or for-profit organization in a position that requires substantial writing.  These positions can be in communication, marketing, PR, journalism, editing, event planning, social media, web design, grant writing and many other areas.  Professional writing interns are required to complete 150 hours of work for the sponsoring organization during the semester that the intern is enrolled in ENGW 4350.

Internships need to be pre-approved by the campus internship adviser, who will check to make sure that the position will involve substantial writing and/or editing as well opportunities for the student to learn more about the profession.  Approval will be granted only after the student and the sponsoring organization complete the ENGW internship initial forms describing the intern’s duties and providing contact information for the site supervisor.

During the semester, the student will report regularly to the campus internship supervisor, in addition to fulfilling all of the duties required by the sponsoring organization.  See the Reporting Requirements section of this website for more information on the reporting required for a credit-bearing internship.

Finding an Internship
There are many resources on campus to help you find a professional writing internship.  The internship coordinator has lists of sites where ENGW majors have interned in the past.  Here are some of these sites:  internship sites.  We will also post current internship openings on the ENGW Facebook page.  Finally, don’t forget the Career Planning Office.  They post internships online and bring organizations seeking interns to campus for the annual Career and Internship Fair and for many other occasions.  You should check their website frequently.

All that being said, your professors are an excellent source of internship suggestions and connections, so be sure to let them know that you are seeking an internship.  If you are interested in a teaching internship, you will need to work this out with the specific professor you want to work with.  In the Fall, many teaching internships are available through the Freshman Studies program.  Contact Alex Barron <alexb@stedwards.edu> during the spring semester if you are interested  in one of these internships.

Contact Mary Rist <marier@stedwards.edu> if you have questions or want to start the process of finding an internship.